MY FIRST YEAR RAFTING 63 



tainly presented many beautiful pictures. I stood the 

 forward watch, 6:30 to 12 A.M., and 6:30 P.M. to mid- 

 night, so I had plenty to look, at, and often stayed up 

 until long after my partner came on watch. 



There were no wing dams in the river then, nor one- 

 tenth as many sand-bars, but there were a few crossings 

 that were bad every season during the low water period 

 (usually during August and September). Places like 

 Bellevue, Queen's Blufif, Chimney Rock, and Beef 

 Slough bars were wide and shallow. I have seen eleven 

 boats aground on, or waiting to get over, Winona bar. 

 These were the first places to which the wing dam or 

 jett>' system was applied with success that led to its 

 adoption for the entire Upper Mississippi. 



The old penitentiary of Minnesota was located at 

 Stillwater. While the crew was fitting up the raft, I had 

 some business ashore, and leisure enough to visit the 

 state prison, in order to get a peek at Cole Younger. He 

 was in for a long term for aiding Jesse James in robbing 

 the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. This was consid- 

 ered a great feat then, but would be a very tame afifair 

 in these progressive days. 



Cole Younger was a well built, handsome man. After 

 serving many long years, with excellent behavior, my 

 old employer. Captain Sam Van Sant, having become 

 governor of the state, pardoned or paroled him, and 

 took a real interest in him. He had paid the penalty 

 and had become a changed man. 



On our second trip to Stillwater, we laid there all 

 night to clean boilers. The streets were full of men 

 who had come down on "the drive." They brought the 

 log crop from the woods, down the little tributaries 

 into the main stream, the Saint Croix river, breaking 

 jams, sacking, rolling, and following them down into 



